T R U T H
by xsynthetic-smile
Summary: You see, in the end, things don't always turn out the way you'd hoped. Just the way they're supposed to. [SOKAI] [AU]


**It was just a simple game of truth. No one told them it would bring them together. No one told them it would tear them apart. Not that they'd admit it, if you asked. After all, in a world where a good lie is much more entertaining than the facts, who can tell what's real anymore? And who can tell what's fake?**

Kingdom Hearts AU  
Sora x Kairi  
Kairi's POV

Summary:  
Kairi was never a talker. She wasn't a loner, mind you, by any means. She just never really had very much to say. At least, that's how people remember her, anyway.

Thing is, she's had a lot on her mind recently. From SAT studies, to the impending close of her theatre, to hey, even Sora, a punk-ass has-been who only joined the theatre group as punishment for being caught tagging. So it's only natural she would be much more quiet than usual. What people don't know is that beneath her silence, her "yeah, I'm fines" and her casual smiles, there's something else going on in her head, something painful, and dangerous. Try as she might to ignore it, to hide behind her pretty sets and stage make-up, it's not planning on leaving her anytime soon. When a game of truth slowly unravels all of her secrets, Kairi must learn that although it's hard to face the truth, keeping silent can prove to be so much worse.

* * *

t r u t h

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"_You can bend it and twist it . . . You can misuse it and abuse it . . . But even God cannot change the truth."_

_-Michael Levy_

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**Prologue**

**---**

**I**t all started with a simple game of truth.

You know, you tell me your secrets, I tell you mine.

The only rule being, of course, that you had to tell the truth, regardless of the consequences.

Which was kind of ironic, considering that we were both actors.

Weavers of dreams, manipulators of reality, the only people in the word capable of making the impossible, possible.

Different ways to look at it, but they all eventually came down to one thing:

Lying.

I guess that's why we were doomed from the start.

The sky above us is glaring and grey, the sort of weather you only see on bright, lazy days that have suddenly taken a turn for the worst. The ground is scattered with dots, remnants of the few raindrops that have spilt over the course of the afternoon; a mere harbinger of the warm, summer storm that will descend as soon as the sun fades from the sky.

To say that the current weather, with its ever-changing moods from sunny to dark back to sunny once more, doesn't reflect the way my heart is pounding in my head, would be a crime in itself. Let alone the biggest load of B.S. I've told since that day.

I'm tired, and sweaty, out of breath as I bend over, using my knees as support. I've never been good at running, and I suppose now wasn't an opportune time to start trying. I feel as though I may collapse at any moment, but I don't. I refuse to. Not after everything that's happened. I think I've known that all along, somehow, ever since we began the game. There was no turning back, for either of us. Somehow, someway, everything changed, without us even noticing. It all just shifted, as the world continued to spin around us. We were different. It's just taken me this long to realize.

And there he is, standing in front of me, not saying a word. Waiting for me to make the next move. It is, after all, my turn.

The clock is ticking. Time is running out.

At one point, maybe, we might have had all the time in the world. Things would have worked out differently between us. Better, perhaps. But differently all the same.

I remember a time not so long ago, when our world was a stage, something we could create to suit our characters, our roles, the very people we pretended to be. Anyone we chose, we could become. Life was simple, black and white, cut and dry. Days went by running off a script. We knew our cues; when the lights dimmed, and the cries of the audience faded . . . all we had to do was recite our lines perfectly, just like we always had.

Things were easier then.

Nothing was out of line, everything worked exactly like it was supposed to. Nothing happened by accident. Things like this, him and I, they were simply ideas, thoughts dedicated to paper then thrown out with the rest of Hollywood's would-be dreamers. The story always had a happy ending, and after the curtains closed, all of the feelings, the anger, sadness, betrayal, and joy . . . they would all just fade away, with the applause echoing in the background.

But as we both learned, life is never that simple.

Things don't always work out the way you hope.

Just the way they're supposed to.

Despite what we wanted to believe, life is a series of turns. It hands you the game board, the pieces, and little, if any instructions. It is up to you to decide what to do with them. Whether to toss it out, and wait for something simpler to come along.

Or to step up to the challenge, and play.

You might win, but more often than not, you lose.

The point is to keep trying, to never stop rolling the die, to always wait for your next hand to be dealt. Because maybe, just maybe, it might be the one that saves your neck, especially when you least expect it. When your hopes are shot down by all those around you, when it seems like your luck has run out, and all of a sudden, it's like you've lost all control. That's when things can change, and often do, as long as you give them a chance.

Many people don't. They give up, seeing their walls close in upon them and their barriers crumble down like sandcastles in the waves. They take their winnings, or lack thereof, and leave, only to find that if they had tried, they would have walked away in victory. They thought they were playing it safe, protecting what they already had.

Which, in retrospect, was really nothing at all.

I almost gave up, that day. I almost threw down my hand, ready to take my wounded dignity, or what was left of it, and go on living my life, wondering, all along, what might have happened. I almost left him there, wondering the exact same thing.

But now here we are, the game set in motion yet again, as if we had only put in on pause.

Despite everything, everything we've gone through, him reaching out when I thought I was far too broken to be fixed, me pushing him away as I realized that maybe my heart wasn't as fragile as I had once thought, here we are. Two players, given another chance.

It never should have worked, but somehow, it did. We couldn't explain it, even though we were there all along. It just sort of happened.

Or rather, it would have.

But maybe now, it's a little too late.

You see, in the end, you just never know.

But I do know this, standing here, my words caught in my throat as he continues to wait, understanding at least, as I do, that we are at a crossroads.

I have to make a move, or else walk away, never knowing what _could_ have been.

I won't run away anymore. Not anymore.

- - - ------

It all started with a simple game of truth.

Let the games begin.

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**End.**

* * *

I hope this really isn't too vague.

Or too drastic a change from my other character's wicked sarcasm. Kairi's a lot more mellow here. If not a little dramatic.

But hey, she's an actress right? That's how she's supposed to be?

Right?

Well, anyway, tell me what you think.

_-hearts-_

_xsyntheticsmile_


End file.
